Author Archives: Joel

Okay, so today I glued together all the different parts of the Lair’s water plumbing. So I thought. The lair is built on concrete pilings, so this was all done lying in dirt, often with the bottom of a 2X12 … Continue reading →

Not an especially hot day, but very bright. I spent the morning crawling around under the lair (the boys thought this was very nice) drilling holes and running pipe. When I went as far as I could with what I … Continue reading →

Over at TJIC, there’s a discussion of this NYT article about setting back the social security retirement age. Of course the writers start with a tear-jerker story about a broken down fellow in a tire factory who can’t afford to … Continue reading →

Ready to build that critical underground bunker, but your poor tyranny-oppressed back just isn’t up to all the digging? Take heart, hermitty peoples of the outback! The HPAV Gulchendiggensmoothen is now taking orders for empty space to replace all that … Continue reading →

Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up… “Whether you live in an underground bunker or a penthouse suite, the best way to ensure that you’ll still be around next year is to ditch meat and go vegan,” says PETA Executive … Continue reading →

Actually, more like “AAAAHHH! So I’m (Thinking I’m) watering the apricot tree, when I go down and it turns out all the water I’d run so far just ran off into the meadow because the tree’s basin has pretty much … Continue reading →

Another reason not to buy Glocks? We report, you decide. Once I got over my “steel-frame only” dinosaur mindset, my only objection to Glocks was that they were butt-ugly. Nobody can reasonably cling to the fantasy that they’re not perfectly … Continue reading →

“Who’s a good president? Obama’s a good president, isn’t he? Yes he is! Hee hee – I didn’t even bother reading the article, because it had to be a comedown. Jim Treacher owes me a monitor.

When Mayor Bing gets his wheels ripped off, I say good for him for getting rid of Coleman Young’s praetorian guard. That sort of thing would never have happened to the Mayah, because anybody who tried would have gotten ventilated … Continue reading →

I’m still trying to get a handle on this book thing. Normally by now I’ve given up on the project, but I really think there’s something here. Still, I’m kinda floundering. If I could only find where the damned plot … Continue reading →

“I’m starting to think Monsoon is pretty much over.” Yeah. Cats and dogs. Barely made it home.

…that you’re in the wrong place if you want to be a lazy hermit. Okay, it’s Labor Day weekend. Which, since two of the stakeholders have long weekends and hot projects, means you’re pretty much doomed to labor your ass … Continue reading →

It’s pretty bad when you come back on-line after a crazy weekend and note that your hit numbers are in the toilet even after you scored a QoD from Uncle. Or maybe that’s pretty good – not sure. Claire always … Continue reading →

I may have accidentally jazzed some life into the big old sulfated deep-cycle battery I dragged to the lair last month. I’d tried charging it by hooking it directly to a solar panel, which gave it 17+ volts and initially … Continue reading →

Ol’ Shadow didn’t have a happy life before he ended up in his desert idyll. Somebody’s almost bound to ask how much of this is autobiographical, since he’s about to undergo something I’ve described in my own life. It’s not … Continue reading →

So many things, I wish I hadn’t seen it because compiling the list would cut into my morning and I’ve got things to do. I think my headline would have been, “Do you want to be this guy? Then visit … Continue reading →

Hey, at least it starts with the number four. Yesterday Uncle made the comment that the Taurus Judge had truly jumped the shark. And I’m not arguing – though a revolver you can load with .410 shotshells has a certain … Continue reading →

Claire Wolfe has just announced not one but two new books that’ll be available in the near future. One I knew about, a compilation of Hardyville stories. The other’s a surprise to me and apparently to her as well. This … Continue reading →

The White Whale is somebody else’s problem! Yay! A friend of a friend’s friend had an eight-ton Kodiak that pulled that bad boy out of here without the slightest little problem, and in a flash substantially improved the looks of … Continue reading →

Courtesy of Landlady, who originally bought it for Magnus, years ago, and found it while cleaning out one of the barn’s attic spaces last weekend. I can imagine how Magnus reacted to it.And yes, that is LB’s “You’ll never sleep … Continue reading →